Oraganic baby formula

We used formula when Micah was a newborn. We didn't use the organic stuff, but I knew some people who did. Here's a news article on how Similac Organic uses cane sugar to sweeten their formula. The article talks about how pediatricians say it's risky to give babies cane sugar because it can harm tooth enamel, babies might resist less sweet formulas or solid foods, and they might overeat, leading to childhood obesity.

I think a lot of things can lead to childhood obesity and the least of our worries is infant formula, but it's still an interesting article.

I know it's been more than a week since I ran, but....

Bodies are amazing things. I am amazed at how my body could go from pretty much no physical activity to running 13.1 miles in a relatively short amount of time. I’m sure if I had pushed myself I had enough time to train for a full marathon, but that would have been a lot of stress on my body and a lot of extra hours of training. I’m glad I didn’t do one and I doubt I ever will, but I won’t say that I NEVER will. I’m halfway there at this point and could probably keep training the way I have and work towards a full marathon which is coming up in November in Seattle. My knees were sore from running the half and my muscles were a little tight the next day. My knees were only sore from the pounding on the pavement, which is quite common with street running. They were not sore from the surgeries I have had to fix my torn ACL.

I was always amazed at how I could keep going after the first couple of miles and feel fine. I don’t understand how the body works. With all the training we did, my heart was strong and my friend and I were able to talk almost the whole way through the race without feeling too winded. It is incredible how a body can work itself up to running for 2 hours straight without feeling too tired and sore. I have never really been a runner, besides running a bit of cross country in elementary school. I played soccer all through high school and college, but since having Micah I was only playing once a week, and that was only when someone was around to watch Micah for us. It’s amazing to me how I could start by running a couple miles, and then add a few more on to our longer runs each week. I was running 3 miles consistently a couple mornings every week and was a bit nervous about trying to add anything longer than that, partly because it was harder to figure out when I would be able to do it and partly because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do it if I didn’t have a friend meeting me each morning.

I was surprised at the race by how many people of all shapes, sizes and ages were there. There were some people with prosthetics, and even a man in a wheelchair who was pushing himself through the half marathon course! The older people that were running were truly inspiring to me! It makes me believe that absolutely anyone can work towards doing a half marathon!

William Tell Mom Sayings

This is pretty funny. Some of you may have already seen it, but for those of you that haven't, enjoy... and Happy Mother's Day!

I survived!

Now that this morning is over I don't know what to do with myself. I have been training for so long to run a half marathon in Tacoma with my friend Ketra. Up until about a month ago, this half marathon was something in the back of my mind that I was possibly going to do. We were jogging in the mornings for short runs together and then we'd go on longer runs on the weekends. At first I was doing it to help get in shape but as we ran farther I started thinking I just might be able to run 13.1 miles. So I had May 10th in my mind but oddly enough, I felt like I had nothing beyond this date. I didn't plan a life past it! It's like I was planning on not making it through.

Well, we made it through! And we ran faster than we have ever run before! Our longest run up until this point was 11 miles, but we made it all the way to the end without walking. We ran an average of about a 9-minute mile, which is a minute faster than our usual pace. We finished the half marathon at just over 2 hours, which was about 15 minutes faster than we had planned.

The last 2 miles were tough for me. Ketra ran a little ahead of me at the end. It was especially tough because the last 3 miles were mostly uphill. Not the easiest part of the race to have hills! But we finished well and I'm so proud of us! It feels so good to have accomplished something like this! Like my friend Jill said, who ran the 10K this morning - we still got it! Happy Mother's Day to us!

Edited to add: My time was posted on the website yesterday: 2 hours and 2 minutes. I came in 27th in my age bracket and 343rd overall. There were about 1000 male and female runners in the half marathon. It being my first race, I'm fine with those results!